Annual Meeting Retirement Sessions
101 - Late Breaking Developments
This session delivers a timely overview of the most important late-breaking development affecting pension actuaries and retirement plan consultants. Speakers will look at regulatory updates, market trends, and emerging issues with direct implications for client advice.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 0.75
EA Non-Core Credit: 0.75
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
102 - Small Plans: SECURE 2.0 Plan Administration and Plan Amendments
The implementation of SECURE 2.0 continues to present important administrative and compliance challenges for sponsors of small retirement plans and their advisors. Panelists provide a practical update on the latest plan administration requirements, including operational changes, required and optional provisions, and key implementation deadlines. Speakers also address plan amendment requirements, common compliance pitfalls, and strategies for coordinating with plan sponsors, third-party administrators, and legal counsel to ensure plans remain compliant while taking advantage of the flexibility offered by SECURE 2.0.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 0.75
EA Non-Core Credit: 0.75
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
103 - Unique Actuarial Issues in Church Plans
The church pension world is sometimes referred to as the wild west of the pension world. And without ERISA requirements there is a lot of flexibility, but not everything goes. There is a whole world of information to be aware of. Come learn some of the basics (and not as basic) of the church plan landscape that any actuary needs to know when consulting with religious organizations.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
201 - Working With the PBGC
This session explores the practical and professional considerations of working with the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC) on single employer plans. The discussion will cover standard terminations, PBGC initiated terminations, early warning program, 4062(e ) liability, and recent developments. Speakers will discuss their own experiences navigating PBGC-related issues.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
202 - Pension Accounting: Special Topics and Considerations
This session moves beyond the fundamentals of ASC715 and IAS19 to address advanced pension accounting topics. The discussion will cover complex and less frequent scenarios. Potential topics include cash balance plans and recent EITF information, plan transactions such as mergers and spinoffs, first-time US GAAP or IFRS adoption, plan termination, and plan accounting under ASC960. This session intends to help attendees manage and address these accounting situations.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
203 - Social Security and How can we Fix it?
Each of us are expecting to receive a Social Security benefit, but the trust fund/taxes are expected to cover only ¾ of promised benefits fewer than 10 years from now. This session is intended to help each of us understand the current benefit design and evaluate thought-provoking elements that can restore financial soundness.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
301 - ERISA Trivia
Think you can navigate the depths of ERISA better than a trail guide at the Grand Canyon? Scale the Red Rocks of regulations and see if you have what it takes to reach the summit. If you are feeling a bit lost in the desert heat, don’t sweat it – you’re guaranteed to trek home with some fresh knowledge.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
302 - Retiree Medical Strategy: From Plan Design to Actuarial Impact
This session provides an overview of retiree medical plan design. The discussion explores how various design features are being utilized, such as Medicare Advantage and EGWPs, the effect of prescription drug rebates, and the use of healthcare reimbursement accounts. There will be a focus on how these plan designs influence the selection of actuarial assumptions and the relationship between plan design and its actuarial impact.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
303 - Reading the Curve: How Interest Rates Shape DB Investment Decisions
This session explores how movement and shapes of the yield curve influence investment strategy decisions for DB plans. It will examine the implications for asset allocation, liability matching, and risk management in different interest rate environments. The discussion will also review expected return on asset bond models and how they are applied to support funding, valuation, and long-term planning objectives.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 0.75
EA Non-Core Credit: 0.75
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
401 - Oasis of Clarity: Understanding ASOPs 51 and 56
This session will revisit Actuarial Standards of Practice (ASOPs) 51 and 56, exploring why each Standard exists and what purpose they serve in a desert of assumptions, modeling and risk. These ASOPs require additional accompanying disclosures to actuarial results that need to be reviewed regularly. The session will guide you to the oasis.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
402 - Plan Terminations: Spotting the Rattlesnake Before It's Too Late
Terminating a plan is easy, right? What can possibly go wrong? In this session, speakers examine pitfalls related to regulatory requirements, data integrity, missing participants, lump sum elections, and annuity purchases. Attendees gain practical insights into how to spot and address these costly surprises before they strike.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
403 - Incorporating Retirement Income Certainty Into a DC Plan World
As Defined Contribution plans continue to dominate the retirement landscape, the challenge of converting savings into sustainable income has come sharply into focus. This session explores how lifetime income products and solutions can transform 401(k) balances into dependable retirement paychecks. Speakers will examine various market offerings alongside fiduciary considerations and regulatory developments.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
003 - Ethics in the Desert: Finding Direction When Landmarks Fade
When familiar landmarks fade, how do you stay oriented? Panelists explore the ethical challenges facing retirement actuaries. Through engaging case studies and interactive discussion, we’ll examine situations where the right path isn’t always clear. Join us to test your instincts, sharpen your ethical compass, and strengthen the principles that guide your professional decisions.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 2.00
EA Ethics Credit: 2.00
EA Formal Credit: 2.00
501 - Desert Horizons: A Plan for Sustainable Lifetime Benefits
This session provides an update on the Retirement Security Innovation Initiative’s (RSII) development of a retirement plan featuring fixed costs and lifetime benefits. Attendees will learn about key stakeholder feedback from employers, actuaries, recordkeepers, and investment firms that has shaped the plan.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
502 - Identifying and Navigating Gaps in Guidance
Retirement plans have been the topic of thousands of pages of law, tax code, regulation, and informal guidance. But somehow there are still things we don’t know – both new and old topics. Panelists discuss some of the items we wish we knew or had guidance on, as well as approaches to take when you find yourself in one of these situations.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
503 - Annuity Placements (Small, Medium, and Large Insurance Perspective)
Since the 2012 era of GM and Verizon, the Pension Risk Transfer (PRT) market has evolved from the landmark megadeals into a diverse ecosystem where “one size” no longer fits all. This session features a unique panel of representatives from small, medium, and large insurers to discuss the perspectives of the PRT market.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
Reimagining Retirement in the U.S. – An Update from the RSII
The Retirement Security Innovation Initiative (RSII) is a group of professionals seeking to develop a new alternative approach to retirement in the U.S. By taking the best parts of traditional DB and DC plans, along with learnings from other countries, the RSII has developed a new alternative that addresses the shortcoming of traditional approaches. This CCA retirement series webinar will offer an overview of the new approach, along with an update on their progress with lawmakers and key stakeholder groups.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
601 - Your Desert Compass: Navigating Pension Administration
Pension administration comes with many hazards, including complex calculations, administration, HRIS systems, and data quality. This session will provide some tools and approaches to deal with these hazards to improve valuation quality data and reduce administrative errors.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
602 - Retirement Litigation, Regulatory Developments and Legislative Outlook
The speakers review recent court decisions, ongoing litigation and complaints filed that could affect defined benefit plans or pension actuaries. This year's cases may involve actuarial malpractice, actuarial equivalence, actuarial assumptions, erroneous benefit determinations, recent Supreme Court decisions, and others.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
603 - AI 2.0 for Retirement Actuaries: Turning up the Heat
This session will explore practical, real-world use cases where AI can improve efficiency and consistency. Case studies will include enhancing communications, supporting data analysis, and assisting with research efforts.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
701 - Thriving in Your Oasis: Managing Withdrawals and Taxes as You Plan Your Own Retirement
This session will discuss key planning considerations across both the accumulation and documentation phases, including sequence of withdrawals across account types, RMDs, coordination with Social Security and Medicare, tax planning, and the role of inheritance planning and charitable giving in retirement and pre-retirement.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
702 - Small Plan Terminations
Terminating a qualified small employer retirement plan involves navigating a complex web of IRS and DOL regulations. For financial and tax professionals, guiding a small business client through this process requires a meticulous understanding of timing, compliance testing, participant notifications, and asset distribution. Panelists provide a comprehensive, step-by-step roadmap for executing a successful small plan termination. Participants will learn how to identify common operational pitfalls, manage the winding-down of plan assets, and ensure all regulatory filing requirements are met to avoid costly penalties and plan disqualification. Participants will come away with ability to identify the legal and operational triggers that necessitate a plan termination, outline the timeline and procedural steps to terminate a small employer plan, including the compliance requirements, protocols for finding missing participants, distributing plan assets, and accurately preparing the final regulatory forms specifically focusing on the final form 5500.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50
703 - But it's a Dry Heat: Hot Topics for Nonqualified Plans
Familiarize yourself with the newest issues and trends in nonqualified plans, including market best practices for design, considerations with terminating plans, legislative/regulatory updates and emerging programs gaining traction.
Credits:
CPD Credit: 1.50
EA Non-Core Credit: 1.50
EA Formal Credit: 1.50